UPTON'S only pharmacy could close and local GPs become swamped with patients if new industry regulations are approved, the town's pharmacist claims.

Max Harris, of Talbot Cooper Chemists, will present a petition of more than 1,100 signatures to Sir Michael Spicer MP today (Friday).

He says the plans from the Office of Fair Trading could ruin him and other pharmacists like him.

In January the OFT recommended scrapping rules restricting the number and location of chemists. It said the relaxation, which could allow supermarkets to open many more in-store chemists, would lead to greater competition and lower prices for consumers.

But Mr Harris said pharmacy was not about competition but the provision of pharmaceutical services.

"I'm very concerned. It could have a huge impact on the pharmacy in Upton-upon-Severn," he said.

"If a lot of pharmacies closed, an awful lot of people would go to their GP for minor ailments. That would put a huge strain on GPs.

"The OFT have completely looked at it from the wrong point of view."

The signatures, collected in the pharmacy and Ardath House newsagents since the middle of February, represent more than a third of Upton's 3,000 population.

Trade and industry secretary Patricia Hewitt has signalled she is unlikely to accept the recommendations, good news to those who feared they could sound the death-knell for local pharmacies, especially in poor and rural areas.

But Mr Harris said the road was not yet clear: "They are certainly going to have a serious rethink about it but there is always pressure from other parties to bring about change."

Sir Michael said he would be taking the petition forward to support the argument against the plans.

"I'm highly sympathetic to the pharmacists' views on this," he said. "I think that it would be extremely unfortunate if the pharmacists were driven out of the high street."